Another try at embedding my Prezi

Girl Guides Tennant Creek on Prezi

Week # 5 Presentations

To be honest, I suprised myself at how much fun this was..... at least once I learnt how to insert photos and so on. 

I think I will be using this a lot and am already thinking of ways to use it with the upcoming Library and Literacy lessons at the start of term 3. 

As one of my passions is Girl Guiding - I have been a leader now for almost 30 years - I thought I would stick with what I know for the presentation.  To start with, I cheated and just transferred a powerpoint straight into Prezi - and was startled at how easy it was.  So I stepped up my game and actually spent some time making up a presentation.  A couple of nasty comments at the computer later and there it was. 

http://prezi.com/_2de4uzbuwek/girl-guides-tennant-creek/

I did try to embed the code in the blog - but I just ended up with half a page of 'stuff' that didn't seem to take me to anything - hence the link above.

<div class="prezi-player"><style type="text/css" media="screen">.prezi-player { width: 550px; } .prezi-player-links { text-align: center; }</style><object id="prezi__2de4uzbuwek" name="prezi__2de4uzbuwek" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" width="550" height="400"><param name="movie" value="http://prezi.com/bin/preziloader.swf"/><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"/><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"/><param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff"/><param name="flashvars" value="prezi_id=_2de4uzbuwek&amp;lock_to_path=0&amp;color=ffffff&amp;autoplay=no&amp;autohide_ctrls=0"/><embed id="preziEmbed__2de4uzbuwek" name="preziEmbed__2de4uzbuwek" src="http://prezi.com/bin/preziloader.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="550" height="400" bgcolor="#ffffff" flashvars="prezi_id=_2de4uzbuwek&amp;lock_to_path=0&amp;color=ffffff&amp;autoplay=no&amp;autohide_ctrls=0"></embed></object><div class="prezi-player-links"><p><a title="Girl Guides Tennant Creek" href="http://prezi.com/_2de4uzbuwek/girl-guides-tennant-creek/">Girl Guides Tennant Creek</a> on <a href="http://prezi.com">Prezi</a></p></div></div>

If you have any suggestions for making the embed work, I would love to hear them.  I think I followed all the instructions correctly - but I guess not as the above 'stuff' doesn't seem to do anything.

Week # 4 Online Organisation

My choice of program was Springpad as it looked so interesting - all those notebooks, and designs for the cover - yummy.  All those ideas to be kept safe and neatly stored so they could be pulled out when needed.

Well, yummy it may have looked but I think I bit off rather more than I could chew!  Once in there, it just became all too hard, so I decided to give Diigo a go......

Fine idea - except I ran into problems just signing up!  Couldn't have Shelagh as a username - so I tried Kivuli - darned if that wasn't taken also.  (Who else is crazy enough to use Swahili words as a username?) Then, although it verified my Google account, it wouldn't go any further.  :(

About then I decided to have a little sulk - all day out in the sun at a School Sports Day will do that to a person.  (Well, that's my story anyway) 

The thought, however, that did occur to me was that the idea of Springpad is pretty close to being the same as Pinterest.  In both cases, don't you find and save (pin) files in a format where you can locate and access them again?  Springpad is notebook style while Pinterest is meant to be like notes pinned to a board. If you have one, why would you need/use another?  Could you not also do much the same with Google Docs?

I will go back and give Springpad another try - and I will also have another try at signing up for Diigo - but for now I am planning to move onto Week 5.  Once I have got more time, I will come back to these programs and try to make them work for me. So an edit to this post may be in the works.

Week #3 Twitter

Well, I signed up to Twitter - and chose some people to follow.  At that point, I was choosing some that were offered on the joining panel of Twitter, so I now have various news profiles along with music and craft profiles.  (Most of which I am not all that interested in - how easy is it to unfollow?)  I have since started following a couple of Library profiles. 

I have to be honest and say that so far Twitter hasn't impressed me at all and I am finding it a little hard to see any real use for it.

Of course, all I have managed so far is to follow - I haven't 'tweeted' anything, so that may change as I go along.

I also decided that Pinterest wasn't my sort of thing so I didn't sign up for it.  Since then, a colleague showed me her collection on there - so I may need to rethink that decision!

I think that a lot more playtime may be in order for both of them to see whether I can find some uses for these.  (Playtime is always good)

Week # 2 Google Suite

This was interesting.  I wasn't fully aware of all of these resources just sitting there waiting to be used.  I feel that I have barely made a dent in the surface of what is out there - and rightly so. There seems to be a lot available.

So far, I have moved a document that I had on my computer into Google Docs, and - hopefully - have managed to share it with you. Everything appeared to do what it was supposed to - so that was good.  I found it fairly easy to find my way around and am keen to try playing around some more.

Once I went into Google Reader to set an RSS feed - I realised that I already am following some blogs - both mine for the Barkly College and also one from a Librarian in Sydney who has a blog that I keep up with.  I also have a list of blogs that are saved onto the favourites toolbar - but these are not actually followed, but bookmarked, am I right?

There are a couple that I receive an email from each time that they are updated - does this mean that I am using a RSS feed to keep up with them?

As I already had some websites showing in Google Reader, I didn't add any more.

I can see uses for Google Reader at work - in keeping up with websites that have lots of information and are updated regularly.  Instead of remembering to check the websites for updates, it will continue to deliver the information to me, so that I can grab what I need, when I need it.

I can sense lots of time will be spent playing with all the resources available - and I guess time spent 'playing' is possibly the best way to learn and feel confident in what I am doing - and to find what works for me and what doesn't.

Week #1 In the beginning

It has taken me a little while to get started, for various reasons - but here goes.  Now to answer some of the questions asked......

What do I think of blogging?  Although I already have a blog that I set up for the school library in which I work, it is still a little daunting.  Not sure why - maybe it is the thought of my words and opinions out there for everyone to read?  Even though I know how hard it is to get people to follow a blog, it is still a little scary.

Did I find any blogs that interested me?  I follow a lot of blogs in relation to my crafts - but also a number that I find really helpful and/or thought provoking in terms of my work as a High School Librarian.

Difference between a Wiki and a Blog? A blog is more of an online journal or diary while a wiki is a collaborative effort between various people or groups.

Would a wiki be useful in my work? Yes, I believe that it would as it is something that could be set up for classes or groups on a subject that everyone could contribute to so as to be able to gather together and share information and ideas.

I hope that working through this course will give me some new skills and ideas to work with the students and staff at my school - and even just to gain the confidence to be able to play with all the tools out there.

Just a quick comment on my profile - it is the one set up for my school blog and I haven't found a way to change it so that it is individual to this one without affecting that blog.  Which is why it may seem a little odd.